Kolkata-based author Debashree Chakraborty writes a novel about the 19 years of life of Jesus, which, according to some contemporary texts, he spent traveling extensively in the Middle East, Sindhu region and India
[Author’s Note: In the Old Testament of the Bible, there is no information about the life of Jesus for 19 years. There are some contemporary texts where eyewitnesses have stated that he traveled extensively in the Middle East and crossed the Sindhu region to enter India. Through this novel, I have tried to portray the diary of a profound spiritual journey of his life in the initial and final chapters. Foreign powers have tried to erase the history of our continent, Asia. That is why, when Notovitch returned from Hemis in Ladakh and mentioned that ancient text over 2000 years old, Max Müller sent people to Hemis to destroy that ancient manuscript. The mysterious manuscript is also mentioned in the book by Swami Abhedananda about Kashmir and Tibet. What was it that caused Max Müller so much concern over this manuscript? It is noteworthy that love cannot come into the life of the son of God, and he cannot have any children. Even the Gospels attributed to him have been confined to the secret, dark chambers of the Pope’s city, with words implanted into his mouth according to their wishes. In his name, imperialistic aggression is being carried out across the world. His only daughter, Sara, has not been recognized. His entire existence has been imprisoned. There lies an unknown chapter of his life hidden throughout the Middle East, the Sindhu region, and India. I have brought forth this history through this novel. “An Unknown Life” is in no way a novel imitating “Jesus lived in India.” This novel provides detailed descriptions of his presence across the vast land from Israel to India, not just his own, but also the mysterious narratives of many people associated with him. Was Jesus truly the founder of Christianity? If not, why must he still bear the burden of the “Roman Cross”? Is there ever to be a possibility of his release? All answers are coming. Debashree Chakraborty]
An Unknown Life
(Location: Alexandria, Egypt, Time: 2022)
(Gospel of Mary, Akhmim Codex)
Surrounded by barren land on one side and the blue sea on the other, an extraordinary canvas has been created with the blend of yellow and blue. The waves of the sea crash against the yellow land. Simple marine birds are coming there, seemingly lost in thought as they catch fish. Their strange presence is also in the sky. It is evening, and soon, changes will begin in this nature as well. Robert is sitting on a bench by the sea; it has been two weeks since he arrived in Egypt. He has taken refuge in Heather’s home. However, for the past week, his health has not been good. He has vomited blood several times. Heather has taken him to the doctor, who has prescribed medication, but no matter what, he is not getting better; his physical condition is deteriorating day by day. The last time he went to see the doctor, he met an elderly Russian woman there. She looked at him and said that a certain poison had been administered to Robert, which is gradually killing him. Death does not come in a day; this was how the woman’s husband was killed too. No medicine can eliminate this poison. However, Robert has no fear of death; he has nothing left to lose. Everything he has now is just up for giving away. Today, Omkari is coming to see him; it is very important for him to meet her at this moment; otherwise, all his efforts so far will be in vain. As Robert contemplates various thoughts while listening to the crashing waves, the chirping of birds, and the sounds of the breeze, Omkari arrives. She has a bag slung over her shoulder and is wearing a white sari today. In the last rays of the evening light, Omkari looks very beautiful, and her long, open hair is blowing in the sea breeze. The color of Omkari’s hair is light red; Robert hadn’t noticed it on the first day, but today she looks like that goddess from two thousand years ago, for whom he has spent his life searching. However, she has arrived a bit late; at this late hour when everything is about to end, the dream of building a new home seems futile. Omkari looks extraordinarily beautiful today. He wants to tell her a lot, but it’s not always right to express every thought. Some things are better left hidden. Now, the main goal is to judge some people in history, which must be done.
Omkari had been sitting across from Robert for a long time, observing him. Robert today looks like Jesus. With hair that reaches his shoulders and blue eyes, everything about his physical appearance seems to suggest that Jesus has returned after thousands of years. As she walks the path in search of him, she has unknowingly become one with the character of Lady Magdalene, learning about her at every moment. Somewhere, without her realizing it, Omkari has turned into Lady Magdalene. With all her heart, she loves Jesus. She does not know if she will ever meet that longed-for person in real life. She doesn’t know if she will ever become a mother. Yet, she feels a deep connection to the next generation of Lady Magdalene. The bloodline of Jesus’s daughter, Sarah, is said to still be hidden in Egypt, and she must find her and return her wealth to her; otherwise, Omkari’s long journey will be in vain. But today, Robert is feeling really good to her, and such feelings should not arise. The human mind is incredibly complex, and it is hard to know when affection for someone will develop; the reasons behind it cannot be determined either. This is their second day of meeting, but since the first day, she has been walking this path with Robert at every moment. This path was defined by Robert. After looking at him for a while, Omkari said, “Robert, you said you couldn’t leave America because you were safeguarding some invaluable assets in your home. If you left, they would destroy everything. So, why have you changed your decision?”
“Omkari, if I had stayed in America, they would have killed me too because they had found my trail.”
“But how? They haven’t found it all this time!”
Your friend Nora works for them. They knew that the book on crucifixion had been published on behalf of Jesus’s family. If they could identify the current generation of this publisher, their long-standing efforts would be successful. They know everything about you, which is why they utilized you. You used your sharp intellect to find me as well. But it’s not just them; there’s also attention on us from Professor Omkari Panigrahi at San Francisco University. If I hadn’t known everything about you, I would never have met you. After just a few days of meeting you, mysterious movements of various people started appearing around my house. I was informed by our organization that I had to escape from here at all costs. I knew such events could happen. There’s a secret tunnel inside my house that leads down to a red maple tree. Not far from my house, there’s a water basin, and next to it stands that maple tree. Under this tree, I had a chamber constructed. Our people built it, so no one else knows about it. I started keeping all my important documents there. As soon as my visa was approved, I left my house. A week after I left, that house was set on fire. I only managed to bring along the original copy of the crucifixion. There’s also a remote; when you click on the cross mark under the red maple tree with it, a secret door will open, leading down a wooden staircase. That staircase leads to a chamber where an infinite truth of history is hidden.”
“Charles, you called me to talk about all this! I have to find someone; I won’t have peace until I do.”
“I will take you with me to see him. Omkari, I have very little time as well. Before meeting that special person, I want to share some information with you. Some parts of the Gospel of Mary were hidden with a person in the black market in Cairo. I learned this when I went to Israel. Following that lead, I arrived in Cairo. Hida acted as my guide here. She loves wandering in such dark worlds and has provided us with much information over a long time. Then our people went and bought it at a high price. Now, I enter that black market myself, holding Hida’s hand, because it’s better to handle some tasks personally. There, we found the “Akhmim Codex” with one person, which is actually a lost part of the Gospel of Mary. After its discovery in 1896, 19 sections went missing, which I have managed to find. I am informing you about this because if this document is lost again for some reason, it can at least be rewritten through someone. Among these nineteen sections, there are three small parts: the Gospel of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and the Acts of Peter. Additionally, I have discovered two more fragments that are part of the Gospel of Mary. These two fragments are named Papyrus Oxyrhynchus El 3525 and Papyrus Rylands 463. We had the carbon dating tests done on these two fragments and found that they were written 500 years before the Gospel of Mary. This document was written in Greek, just like the Gospel of Mary. This Gospel sheds a new light on Jesus’s life, disrupting our conventional perceptions. It is also referred to as the “Gnostic Gospel.” However, the Catholic Church does not recognize this Gospel. The Gnostic Gospel narrates the reasons for Lady Magdalene’s disappearance. These two fragments were preserved in a wooden box, wrapped in bird feathers.”
“Then, when it became clear that it could no longer be preserved, it was buried. However, it was placed in a location where future generations could discover it and learn about the true teachings of Jesus. Now the question is, what were his original teachings? The Gospel of Mary stated, ‘Mary said, I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, Lord, I see you in a vision. He answered and said to me, Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure of knowledge.’ This means, ‘She saw Jesus in her mind’s eye. Jesus is telling her that not only did you see me in your mind’s eye, but you have seen the greatest treasure of the world. And that treasure is knowledge.’ And this is where the real debate begins. In the Gospel of Mary, when Mary of Magdalene tells her followers these things, Andrew says that he cannot believe what Mary Magdalene is saying. They cannot accept her. Here, another debate arises. In the third statement, Peter vehemently opposes Mary. He says, ‘Did Jesus then choose a woman to be the heir of his treasure of knowledge, disregarding them? This is such a ridiculous claim. Jesus believed in Mary Magdalene more than all of them and loved her!’
Omkari believes that all these controversial parts of the Gospel of Mary give rise to the ‘Gnostic Gospel.’ The statements ‘knowledge, other ideas’ form the very foundation of the ‘Gnostic Gospel.’ The first statement of Jesus’s teaching was faith and complete surrender. With these two, He will protect you. The Catholic Church has wielded this principle as a weapon for thousands of years. The second is His knowledge. The Gnostic Gospel states that He gave this knowledge to Mary Magdalene. The term ‘gnostic’ means ‘knowledgeable.’ The Bible we read was written several years before this Gospel. The Bible contains knowledge of cosmology, through which the description of God and the origin of this great universe is given. Up until now, seventy-eight such ancient documents have been found, out of which only twenty-six have been recognized by the Church as Gospel, while the remaining fifty-two have been discarded as Gnostic Gospels.
‘Robert, I am very curious to know how the present Christian religion was born!'”
“Mary did not have a good relationship with Andrew. At one time, due to the fear of the Roman Emperor, Mary Magdalene had to go into hiding, making it impossible for Jesus to maintain contact with her. During this time, Peter began to reveal his true nature. He first started to bring Jesus’s main disciples under his control and then began to convince other followers that Mary was trying to create a space for herself through deception. One of the key objectives of Jesus’s movement was to establish an important place for women in Hebrew society. However, instigated by Peter, the followers began to try to push Mary aside. How could a woman be their teacher? Peter labeled Mary a prostitute. Consequently, Mary Magdalene was forced to withdraw from the movement. Peter became the successor of Jesus’s movement. In this way, that institution was born, which later controlled the advanced nations of the world. Its name is the Church. Saint Peter is the founder of this Church and the first pope in history. The Gospel of Judas mentions Mary Magdalene, stating, ‘Mary was the apostle of all apostles.’ The apostles were Jesus’s main twelve disciples who received direct teachings from Him. The Gospel of Judas claims that Mary Magdalene was the teacher of those teachers, sitting beside Jesus. However, to erase Mary Magdalene’s history, the Orthodox Christian Church has not placed any woman in a prominent role for nearly two thousand years. Yet we have found many historical artifacts that tell us women held positions of responsibility in many churches in Israel. They had made Mary Magdalene their ideal. I myself visited an ancient church in Israel called Tel Madiggo, which was completely run by women. There, I learned from a guide that around 590 AD, the pope of Rome was Gregory I. On an Easter morning during this time, he slandered Mary Magdalene while giving a speech to Christians around the world.”
“Whose burden he still has to carry today. He said that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Citing Luke 10:39, he stated that Mary Magdalene was a sinful woman who came to Jesus for the healing of some ailment in her body. Thus, the Gospel of Luke referred to her as a sinner. In reality, this sinful Mary was Mary of Bethany, and the Pope conflated her with Mary Magdalene. There is much evidence in history that Pope Gregory was fundamentally misogynistic. However, this notion gradually began to change. After 1959, a directive was issued. Pope Paul VI announced in this directive that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are not the same woman; therefore, Magdalene is not a sinner. This is also written in the New Testament. In 1982, Mary Magdalene was given the title of Saint. On July 22, 2016, Pope Francis proclaimed her as the “Apostle of All the Apostles.” Since then, all Protestant churches have referred to her as the “Heroine of the Faith.”
I have recorded everything I just told you, and I also possess the Gospel of Mary along with various pieces of information, including those concerning the crucifixion. You, too, have brought information from Europe; all of this must be handed over to our descendant.
Omkari let out a long sigh and said, ‘now you will answer one question for me: why was I chosen for this task?’
‘Because your family possesses a very important heritage; in the past, your family was indirectly associated with the movement of Jesus. He stayed in Puri’s Jagannath temple for about six years, during which he spent some time in Jajpur, one of the centers for Tantra practices. There, the powerful goddess Ma Birja resides, and later, this place became a major center for Vajrayana practices. When he was visiting Jajpur in search of this special spiritual philosophy, an ancestor of your family came into contact with him and wrote a manuscript about him, which your family has continued to carry as their property to this day. Do you know anything about this?'”
“Upon hearing this, the long-standing fog in Omkari’s mind began to lift. Many questions found their way to the forefront of her thoughts. She said, ‘My family practiced Shaivite Tantra during that time, and there was a stream of Shaivite Tantra flowing through Jajpur centered around Ma Birja, which gradually transformed into Buddhist Tantra and later into Radhatantra. It was this same current of Tantra that attracted Shri Chaitanya Deva to Jajpur. Yes, we have a manuscript written by our ancestors that still exists, which was composed in ancient Utkali language. This manuscript mentions that a Shaivite from the distant Middle East came to Jajpur and practiced in the forest land for a long time; afterwards, he moved toward the meditation grounds of Rishya Shring, and after spending some time in Rajgir, he supposedly went to Varanasi. He was a practitioner highly experienced in Bhairava Tantra. My father, Professor Panigrahi, used to say that his physical build was similar to that of Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya, being tall and robust with a fair complexion. Now I understand who he was!
‘Do you have a copy of this manuscript?’
‘Yes, we do. I have scanned each ancient manuscript stored in our house, reduced their size, and kept them in my Google Drive. You may take it.’
Omkari said, ‘I have very little time. For the safety of ancient manuscripts, a type of poison was often used on them in the past. If someone accidentally touches their mouth while reading the manuscript, that poison would spread through their body and gradually finish them off. Something like this was attached to the Gospel of Mary. My habit of cutting my nails with my teeth made me so engrossed in reading that I forgot all about it. Tonight, Ali will take us to the current generation of Jesus’s daughter Sara, to whom we must hand over his legacy, or else this liberation will remain unattainable.'” (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part 2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6, Part-7, Part-8, Part-9, Part-10, Part-11, Part-12, Part-13, Part-14, Part-15, Part-16, Part-17, Part-18, Part-19, Part-20, Part-21, Part-22, Part-23, Part-24, Part-25, Part-26,
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Debasree Chakraborti is a renowned novel writer of Bengali language. Based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, she has done Master’s in Modern History from the Kolkata University, and authored some thirty books, mostly the novels, with historical perspective and themes. Her novel is ‘Maharaja Dahir’ that covers the history of Sindh from 662, the year of first attack on Sindh by the Arab armies till date, was published last year and translated by Nasir Aijaz into Sindhi language.
